Iceland’s government named a new prime minister and called for early elections in the autumn, a day after Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson quit to become the first global politician brought down by the “Panama Papers” leaks. It was unclear whether the naming of Fisheries Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson to head the government or the call for early elections would satisfy the thousands of Icelanders who in street protests this week demanded the government resign immediately for early elections. Gunnlaugsson quit as prime minister after leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm showed his wife owned an offshore company that held millions of dollars in debt from failed  Iceland ic banks.

• Gunnlaugsson had led the island nation of 330,000 people since 2013. The accusations involving him are especially painful for many Icelanders who remember the 2008 financial crisis, which resulted in the collapse of Iceland’s currency, stock market and several major banks.
• The government said the decision to hold elections in autumn would give it time to follow through on one of the biggest economic policy changes in decades—the ending of capital controls introduced to rescue the economy from the 2008 financial crisis.
• Johannsson, who had served also as agriculture minister in the government, told reporters the government would further pursue its big projects of the last three years, the largest being the abolition of capital controls.
• The leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm that specializes in setting up offshore companies were unveiled this week by news organizations around the world, shining a light on the finances of global politicians and public figures.

Gunnlaugsson and his wife bought a company called Wintris Inc from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca in late 2007 through the Luxembourg branch of Landsbanki, one of the three  Iceland ic banks that collapsed in 2008.